Some good movies and music

Just rediscovered "Crouching tiger Hidden dragon" this weeekend. Awesome movie. Probably the best thing about it is the soundtrack. Damn good. The next best thing is Ziyi Zhang, amazing potrayal of arrogance, susceptibilty, charm, rebellion and eventaully grace.. excellent cinemtography and storyline. This ranks right up there with the likes of LOTR in the fanatasy genre.

Another good one I saw a couple of weeks back: Farewell my Concubine, ok it does sound kinky and thats what I thought when I saw it mentioned on some post (about why china cant be the next superpower.. another interting topic) but its an awesome movie. Often, I realize I have seen a great movie when I find myself thinking about the movie , going over the details long after I have seen the movie and reflecting on it. Not in the murder mystery movie sense where you are connecting the dots, but rather relishing the emotional richness and complexity of the plot and musing on the multiple interpretaions that great movies generally lend themselves to.

Well this one is definitely a masterpiece and Leslie Chung is better than perfection. How well can a guy perform an effiminate and tragic role with poise? Couldnt have imagined if not stumbled upon this movie. Apart from the acting, the recent history of China intertwined in the plot blends perfectly well with the progression of the story. One thing I felt was slightly out of place was when Dieyi tells on his partner in front of the commis ... goes somewhat against his silent strong character. Douzi's wifes characterization is beautiful. She actaully emerges as the strongest character in the movie in a sense, even though she has a relatively smaller role. I learnt later that Leslie Chung actually committed suicide in real life due to relationship problems, kind of life imitating art. It just made the movie intensely more poignant in my mind, not that it was lacking any to begin with.

Got my hands on Dead Man Walking soundtrack this weekend which features Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and Eddie Vedder on some heartwrenching songs. Together they make magic. Vedder's voice is powerful as usual and Nusrat really comes out with soul stirring music. Some of the best parts of the songs are where he is performing the alap. That such a depth of emotion can be evoked without any language is sheer genius. Nusrat's music, sublime as it is, is pretty simple, just the tabla, harmonium and his voice but it is legendary stuff. Kind of like Elvis' Love me tender where all the song has going for it is Elvis' voice. Need to get more of Nusrat's songs.